It is an attempt to revive in difficult times: Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir are campaigning in Brazil for more trade with Germany and a free trade agreement between the EU and the South American confederation Mercosur.
"Now the Lula government has the chance to see whether the EU-Mercosur agreement, which has actually been finalized, but still has questions from both sides, can be finalized," said Habeck, who said on Sunday was traveling in pairs with his party colleague and Minister of Agriculture Özdemir in Belo Horizonte on a multi-day trip to South America. "That would be my goal."
Accordingly, the agreement is an opportunity for South America as well as for Europe and for Germany if sustainability is found in it as binding. "Part of the journey will be to find out if that's possible with Brazil and with the other countries in the Mercosur agreement."
Mercosur negotiations have been going on for decades
After a meeting with the governor of the state of Minas Gerais, Habeck said: "Brazil is Germany's only strategic partner on the South American continent, and yet we have work to do." A lot has changed economically and geopolitically. Specifications for climate protection and the preservation of natural diversity must become central components of the economic system.
The EU has been negotiating with Mercosur - which includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay - since 1999 for a free trade agreement that would create one of the largest free trade areas in the world with more than 700 million people. The agreement is also on hold in view of the refusal of the previous right-wing President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, to protect the climate. Environmental and consumer advocates are opposed to the agreement.
The agreement threatens the rainforest and increases beef production - both are the opposite of urgently needed climate protection, said Greenpeace trade expert Lis Cunha of the German Press Agency. For consumers in Germany and the EU, the agreement would also mean more cheap meat. The German Farmers' Association is also critical of the agreement. "We have the interests of the farmers in mind, but it is also in the interest of German agriculture that the governments on this planet that believe in sustainability are strengthened," said Minister of Agriculture Özdemir.
More common ground with new governments?
The federal government now wants to use a "momentum" to work more closely with Brazil and Colombia, the second destination of the South America trip, as it was said. This is aimed at new presidents in both countries. Experts have recently repeatedly criticized the fact that Europe, despite historical and cultural points of contact - in southern Brazil, around 20 percent of the population is of German origin - is leaving the field to the Chinese in the region.
"It is essential for the German economy that the agreement is ratified as quickly as possible," said Barbara Konner, general manager of the São Paulo Chamber of Commerce. "China is already Brazil's strongest trading partner and most important investment partner." Above all, however, it is important for Germany to achieve its own climate protection goals within the framework of the agreement. BDI President Siegfried Russwurm had also argued that the agreement would bring the South American market closer to Europe, local rules and standards.
Brazil has 214 million inhabitants and is 24 times the size of Germany. "We want a strong signal that Germany wants a partnership on an equal footing," said Minister of Agriculture Özdemir. He described Brazil and the former civil war country Colombia as "ideal partners" because they had set out to combine climate protection and prosperity. Colombia is an associated country in Mercosur.
German economy squints at Brazil's hydrogen
The planned meeting with the two Green Ministers has attracted a lot of attention from the Brazilian economy. "The interest of the private sector is huge," said Lytha Spindola, director of industrial development at the national industry association CNI, the dpa. Around 1000 participants would come to the German-Brazilian business days in the innovation metropolis Belo Horizonte, which Habeck and Özdemir will visit on Monday.
German companies have been active in Brazil for many years. The "hydrogen country of Brazil" could in future take on the role of a supplier of the coveted building block in the climate-friendly restructuring of the economy, said Ansgar Pinkowski, Director of Energy Transition and Sustainability at the Rio Chamber of Commerce.
Energy, climate and digitization will be topics at the German-Brazilian Business Days. The two countries' largest business gathering has long been on the bilateral agenda, but is the first of its kind under Brazil's new government of President Lula da Silva. According to the CNI, trade in goods between Brazil and Germany reached 17.2 billion US dollars in 2022 - the highest value since 2014.
